Finally, other countries have their own Captain America.

I'm only half joking.

But after 85 years and only a few furtive (and sometimes jokey) attempts, Marvel is officially creating patriotic superheroes in the mold of Captain America for four other countries. And while there already is a Captain Britain, they aren't even included in this new patriotic superteam. But now is the time for Captains.

In December's Captain America #6, the United Captains (as Marvel calls it) will debut. They are:

• Captain Kingdom
• Red Widow (but called 'Captain Russia' by her creators)
• The Star (but called 'Captain China' by their creators)
• Captain France

"I love the idea of 'official' superheroes, ones who work within the system," series writer Chip Zdarsky tells ComicBook. "It felt like there would be some sort of United Nations representatives from the Security Council member countries to deal with situations like Latveria. So, the United Captains came from that idea, a team that isn’t a team, that may have their own agendas."

Captain America will serve as the de facto leader of this team, going into Latveria after the downfall of Doctor Doom's global takeover in the One World Under Doom event going on now. But given what Chip says, they're each independently-minded and might strike out on their own (even though the Star (AKA Captain China)  is "a huge fan of Captain America" according to the writer.

All but Red Widow are new characters, but all carry new designs by Valerio Schiti.

"One of the things I like most about my job is designing new characters," Schiti says. "It has always been a great hobby of mine, even before becoming a professional! I tried to incorporate some traditional symbols from the countries of origin of the new Captains into their uniforms, which are also practical and suitable for combat."

And 2025 is suitable for Marvel to finally create Captains for all countries.

The commodification of Captain America

Although these heroes are debuting in 2025, 85 years after Captain America's debut, there have been attempts in the past to create more Captain America-like characters for other countries. 

In 1976, Uncanny X-Men scribe (and English-born writer) Chris Claremont dreamt up the idea for Captain Britain, with Herb Trimpe and John Romita Jr. creating the look of the character. Created in the mold of Spider-Man and intended to be the flagship character to a line of Marvel comics specific to the UK audience, Captain Britain evolved relatively quickly into something else - changing costumes early, and quickly leaning out of more patriotic-minded adventures and into more of a magical bent given his connection to Arthurian legend.

Near the end of the '70s, Marvel created a jokey team of Captains for other countries in Fun & Games #4. In it were the first (and last) appearances of:

• Captain France
• Captain Japan
• Captain Greece
• Captain Sweden
• Captain Panama
• Captain Turkey
• Captain Switzerland
• Captain Canada
• Captain Cuba

More attempts were made at patriotic heroes for other countries, but Marvel largely gave up on the idea of having them be Captains. Instead, we had Union Jack (United Kingdom), the Guardian (Canada), Shamrock (Ireland), American Eagle (the Navajo Nation), Sabra (Israel), and others. The last major attempt at this was 'blink and you'll miss it' creation of an Ultimate Captain France, Captain Spain, and Captain Italy in Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Ultimates run, who all seemed created to be killed during that same run.

Now is the time for Captains of all countries

So... what changed? Well, people love variants. From the breakneck success of Spider-Gwen to the mainstreaming of Lady Deadpool and others in the Deadpool & Wolverine movie, and on to the numerous, numerous versions of Mountain Dew that seem to grow every week, people are showing they respond to new things more if they're somewhat familiar to them already.

Whereas a couple years ago we were all designing our Spider-sonas after Spider-Man's first Spider-verse movie, the decision here to take Captain America on a whistlestop tour through several of the most populated countries in the world now gives more fans to find a Captain who fits them.

Just stop before you go too deep and hit states, and create Captain Florida.

Captain America #6 goes on sale December 17.

Interested? Here's where to find your closest local comic store, courtesy of Sweet, and here's a guide to how (and where) to read comics online. If you're looking for the best comics in recent memory, check out the Eisner Awards winners and the Harvey Awards nominees. And if you like free comics, here's everything we know about Free Comic Book Day 2027.